Dolly Parton this weekend was presented with the Bezos Award for Courage & Civility by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and partner Lauren Sanchez. The $100 million prize recognizes “leaders who aim high, find solutions and who always do it with civility,” said Sanchez. The money is granted “to direct to the charities that (recipients) see fit.”
Bezos said Parton “embodies these ideals so thoroughly; she gives with her heart. What she’s done for kids, literacy and so many other things is just incredible.”
Receiving the award, the country superstar exclaimed, “Wow! Did you say $100 million? When people are in a position to help, you should help, and I know that I’ve always said I try to put my money where my heart is… I will do my best to do good things with this money.”
Bezos tweeted video of the presentation on Saturday; see it below.
Parton is known for her humanitarian efforts, which include backing the Moderna Covid vaccine via a $1 million donation to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center for its coronavirus research in 2020.
She also founded the Dollywood Foundation, which includes the Imagination Library, a book gifting program that mails high-quality, free books to more than a million children around the world each month; and in 2021, Parton used her royalties from Whitney Houston’s rendition of her song “I Will Always Love You” to purchase a strip mall in Nashville to support the local Black community.
Parton was recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame despite initially saying she did not feel she had “earned that right” since she has never recorded a rock album. Her Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas family TV movie is set for air on NBC December 1.
Parton joins previous recipients of the Bezos Award, activist Van Jones and chef and humanitarian Jose Andres.
